SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

MODULE 1
Subject:

Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics

(UCSP11)

AISAT COLLEGE – DASMARIÑAS, INC.

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 Unit Social Science
Module The birth and growth of Social Science
Understanding Culture, Society, and Page |2
UCSP11 Units: 80hrs
Politics

INFORMATION SHEET 1Q-1.1.1

“BIRTH AND GROWTH OF SOCIAL SCIENCE”
Learning Objectives:

1. Explain anthropological and sociological perspectives on culture, society and politics

2. Acquire basic knowledge about origin, growth and development of the social sciences.
3. Recognize the Western and colonial origins of third world social sciences and knowledge
production.

The Historical Background of the growth of Social Sciences

In the development and progress of human knowledge, the social sciences were the last to
develop After the natural sciences. And while the origin of the social sciences can be traced back to the
ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, their development as separate fields of
knowledge only begun in the modern period.

Before the birth of modern social sciences in the West, the study of society, culture and politics
were based on social and political philosophy. (Scott 2006, p.9). In return, social and political
philosophies were informed by theological reasoning grounded in Revelation based on the Bible. This
was largely due to the dominance of religious worldwide and authority during time. While pre-modern
social thinkers employed experiences and personal observation, just like modern scientists, they fit them
with the overall framework of their philosophy and the overall religious scheme of the Church.
Philosophy is district from Science. Science would have not development if it remained under the wings
of philosophy and theology.

Philosophy is based on analytic understanding of the nature of truth asserted about specific
topics of issues. It asks the questions: “What is the nature of truth?” “How do we know what we know?”
Unlike philosophy, the sciences are based on empirical data, tested theories and contrived observations.
It does not ask the question about the nature of truth.

Science seeks to discover the truth about specific causes of events and happenings in the natural
world. It is inductive. (using particular examples to reach a general conclusion about something). It
proceeds from observing particular cases and moves toward generalizing the properties common to
these cases to others similar cases under the same specified condition. This definition of Science is a
very modern description. Before the modern period, the growth of the science was slowed down
because of the dominance of the religious authority and tradition. However, with the breakdown of the
Church and its religious power after the French revolution, the science grew steadily and rapid to
become. The most widely accepted way explaining the world, nature, and human beings.

SUBJECT TEACHER: APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION:

st rd
MODULE 1 – 3
QUARTER 1
1 Meeting MS. ELENA MAE CORONEL MR. WILBERT A. MAÑUSCA
Subject Teacher School Director
 Unit Social Science
Module The birth and growth of Social Science
Understanding Culture, Society, and Page |3
UCSP11 Units: 80hrs
Politics

The development of the Social Sciences during the modern period was made possible by several
large-scale social upheavals and pivotal events. They can be summarized below.

(Figure 1. Relationship of Law, Science and Humanities)

THE UNPRECEDENT GROWTH OF SCIENCE

The Scientific Revolution which begun with Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) refers to historical changes
in “Thought and Belief”. In Europe, roughly between 1550 and 1700. It culminated in with the works of
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727), which prosed universal laws of motion and mechanical model of
universe.

(Figure 2. Sir Isaac Newton (left), Nicolaus Copernicus (Right))

The 17th century saw the rapid development in the sciences. Along with Sir Francis Bacon, who
established the supremacy of reason over imagination, Rene Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton laid the
foundation that allowed science and technology to change the world. The discovery of gravity of Sir

SUBJECT TEACHER: APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION:

st rd
MODULE 1 – 3
QUARTER 1
1 Meeting MS. ELENA MAE CORONEL MR. WILBERT A. MAÑUSCA
Subject Teacher School Director
 Unit Social Science
Module The birth and growth of Social Science
Understanding Culture, Society, and Page |4
UCSP11 Units: 80hrs
Politics

Isaac Newton, the mathematization of physics and medicine paved the way of the dominance of Science
and Mathematics in describing and explaining the world and its nature.

With the coming of Scientific Revolution and Age Reason, in the 16 th and 17th centuries, nature was to be
controlled, “bound into service and made slave”. From the Medieval cosmology or model of the
universe as big machine. The triumph of this model of the universe was facilitated by Newton’s Physics.
Descartes separation of the physical from the spiritual, the body from the mind, also led to the triumph
of valuing the physical over the spiritual. Once the physical universe is considered as a machine, it soon
became apparent to human beings can explore it according to science in order to reveal its secrets.

THE SECULARIZATION OF LEARNING AND EDUCATION

The modern period marked the growing triumph of scientific method over religious
dogma and theological thinking. The Protestant movement led by Martin Luther eroded the power of
the Roman Catholic Church. It challenged the infallibility of the Pope and democratized the
interpretation of the Bible. Then there was the Enlightenment. This was largely a cultural movement,
emphasizing rationalism as well as political and economic theories, and was clearly built on the Scientific
Revolution.

In the Age of Enlightenment, philosophers led by Immanuel Kant challenged the use of
metaphysics or absolute truth derived mainly from unjustified tradition and authority such as the
existence of God. Kant advocated the use of reason in order to know the nature of the world and human
begins. In 1784, Immanuel Kant wrote his famous essay, “What is Enlightenment?”. Kant heralded the
beginning of the Modern Period when he defined Enlightenment as courage to know.

SUBJECT TEACHER: APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION:

st rd
MODULE 1 – 3
QUARTER 1
1 Meeting MS. ELENA MAE CORONEL MR. WILBERT A. MAÑUSCA
Subject Teacher School Director
 Unit Social Science
Module The birth and growth of Social Science
Understanding Culture, Society, and Page |5
UCSP11 Units: 80hrs
Politics

ENLIGHTENMENT is man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man’s inability to
make use his understanding without the direction from another. Self-incurred is tutelage when
its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without
direction from another. Sapereaude! “have courage to use your own reason!” -that is the motto
of enlightenment.

Whereas in the MEDIEVAL PERIOD, universities relied mainly on religious the Bible to explain the nature
of the universe and the place of human being in the grand scheme of things, modern universities started
to rely on science and its method to interpret the world. Max Weber, one of the leading figures in
modern sociology, described this process as rationalization.

RATIONALIZATION, means that social life is more and more subjected to calculation and
prediction. Calculation and prediction can only be achieved if human beings and society rely on
regularities established by modern science. Earlier people explained diseases through divine
intervention. With the discoveries of germ theory and the development of vaccination by Louis Pasteur,
people relied more and more on medical knowledge to deal with the disease. As French sociologist
Francois Lyotard (1984) points out Science triumphed because provided reliable results.

Another element of rationalization is the separation between different social spheres

especially between the different social spheres especially between the Church and the Universities. The
collapse of religious authority and the gradual erosion of religious domination over social life of the
people led to the use of classical humanistic resources such as the ancient philosophy and humanities to
advance human knowledge independent of Revelation.

THE RISE OF UNIVERSITIES

Education is the single most important factor in the rise of social sciences. The growth of
universities also contributed to the triumph of science. Secular subjects or subjects dealing with the
natural world proliferated in the universities. Merchants and capitalists supported universities and
institutions secular learning because they became the hub of training future scientists, technocrats, and
technological innovators. Durkheim, one of the founding “fathers” of sociology, for instance, lectured on
the need to secularize education and base the curriculum on the need of nation-state- to develop
citizens necessary for the modern world.

THE DISSOLUTION OF FEUDAL SOCIAL RELATIONS

With the intensification of Commerce and Trade in the 17 th century, many medieval
guilds or workers cooperative were dissolved and absorbed into the emerging factory system. The
factory system and the unpresented growth in the urban centers due to trade and commerce, attracted

SUBJECT TEACHER: APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION:

st rd
MODULE 1 – 3
QUARTER 1
1 Meeting MS. ELENA MAE CORONEL MR. WILBERT A. MAÑUSCA
Subject Teacher School Director
 Unit Social Science
Module The birth and growth of Social Science
Understanding Culture, Society, and Page |6
UCSP11 Units: 80hrs
Politics

a lot of agricultural workers and mass of rural population to migrate to urban centers. This created the
modern cities. This development forced many social scientists during this time to study the effects of the
dissolution of feudal relations on the social life of the people. Ferdinand Tőnnies (1855-1936), a German
sociologist, and the contemporary of Max Weber, lamented the passing away of gemeinschaft o
community because of urbanization Tőnnies classic book Community and Society (1957) showed how
the modern way of life had drastically changed the way people relate to one another.

Whereas in traditional communities’ people had warm relationships with the members of the
community, in modern cities or gessellschaft individualism gave way to cold and calculated social
relationships. As capitalism replaced agricultural economy, people began to see their relationships with
other people as mere economic transactions rather than as form of personal relationships.

TRADE AND COMMERCE

For many centuries the Great Silk Road connected to a complex network of trade routes
from Europe with Asia. It was a way to establish contact with the great civilizations of China, India, the
Near East and Europe. Trade caravans, diplomatic missions, merchants’ representatives of religious
circles, dervishes, warriors – millions of people have passed on this road through time with nothing
frightening these brave travelers, neither the difficult roads, nor the waterless deserts.

THE RISE OF INDIVIDUALISM

The intensification of commerce and trade gradually replaced barter with the production
of money and banking system. Soon banking system provided merchants and capitalists the leverage to
extend the credit and transactions. The introduction of money enabled people to deal with people in an
impersonal manner. Money made possible the reduction of human like interaction to mere business-like
transaction devoid of any warmth and personal touch.

GEORGE SIMMEL (1858-1918)- a German sociologist in the early 20th century to decry the growing
depersonalization of life due to the introduction of money. Money economy transformed individuals to
autonomous consumers who were released from attachment to local contexts and traditions.

Hence, the dominance of money in social life paved the way for individualization of
lifestyle and the birth of plural relationship. This condition became an important focus of social
scientists, it compelled them to explain how the “new economy”, which was industrial capitalism, that
replaced the traditional feudal relations, had drastically shaped human character and traits. The
transition from feudal economy to industrial capitalism heralded the creation of people who no longer
relied on traditional norms and prevailing culture.

SUBJECT TEACHER: APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION:

st rd
MODULE 1 – 3
QUARTER 1
1 Meeting MS. ELENA MAE CORONEL MR. WILBERT A. MAÑUSCA
Subject Teacher School Director
 Unit Social Science
Module The birth and growth of Social Science
Understanding Culture, Society, and Page |7
UCSP11 Units: 80hrs
Politics

Modern individuals asserted their freedom to choose. Through education and the spread
of scientific worldwide, people saw their lives as no longer at the mercy of the fate or destiny.
Individualism is simply the recognition of power of the individual to assert one’s freedom against the
given norms and structures of society.

Reference:

- Lanuza & Raymundo, 2016, Understanding Culture, Society and Politics, Rex Bookstore, Inc.

SELF-CHECK Q1-1.1.1

A. Fill in the blanks the answer on each question.

_________________ 1. _____________ , means that social life is more and more subjected to
calculation and prediction.

_________________ 2. ________________ is tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in
lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another.

_________________ 3. The Protestant movement led by ______________ eroded the power of the
Roman Catholic Church.

_________________ 4. The discovery of gravity of ______________, the mathematization of physics

and medicine paved the way of the dominance of Science and Mathematics in describing and explaining
the world and its nature.

_________________ 5. The Scientific Revolution which begun with Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
refers to historical changes in _________________.

SUBJECT TEACHER: APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION:

st rd
MODULE 1 – 3
QUARTER 1
1 Meeting MS. ELENA MAE CORONEL MR. WILBERT A. MAÑUSCA
Subject Teacher School Director
 Unit Social Science
Module The birth and growth of Social Science
Understanding Culture, Society, and Page |8
UCSP11 Units: 80hrs
Politics

SELF-CHECK ANSWERS Q1-1.1.1

1. RATIONALIZATION
2. SELF-INCURRED
3. MARTIN LUTHER
4. SIR ISAAC NEWTON
5. THOUGHT AND BELIEF

SUBJECT TEACHER: APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION:

st rd
MODULE 1 – 3
QUARTER 1
1 Meeting MS. ELENA MAE CORONEL MR. WILBERT A. MAÑUSCA
Subject Teacher School Director
 Unit Social Science
Module The birth and growth of Social Science
Understanding Culture, Society, and Page |9
UCSP11 Units: 80hrs
Politics

STUDENT NAME: __________________________________ SECTION: __________________

WRITTEN WORK Q1-1.1.1

WRITTEN WORK TITLE: Essay on The birth and growth of Social Science

WRITTEN TASK OBJECTIVE: To enable the students to express their thoughts and opinions regarding
the topic of the study.
Question:

1. Choose one of these questions; on this question, state your answer and explain it fully IN ESSAY
FORM. . 30% for each question. (10 pts. for effort; 10 pts. for correctness of content; 10 pts. for depth)

a. What is the importance of the study of Social Science based on your own strand?

b. Under figure 1, explain the relationship of Science, law and Humanities?

ASSESSMENT METHOD: WRITTEN WORK CRITERIA CHECKLIST

SUBJECT TEACHER: APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION:

st rd
MODULE 1 – 3
QUARTER 1
1 Meeting MS. ELENA MAE CORONEL MR. WILBERT A. MAÑUSCA
Subject Teacher School Director
 Unit Social Science
Module The birth and growth of Social Science
Understanding Culture, Society, and P a g e | 10
UCSP11 Units: 80hrs
Politics

STUDENT NAME: __________________________________ SECTION: __________________

WRITTEN OUTPUT CRITERIA CHECK LIST Q1-1.1.1

CRITERIA SCORING
Did I . . .
1 2 3 4 5
1. Focus - The single controlling point made with an awareness of task
about a specific topic.
2. Content - The presentation of ideas developed through facts, examples,
anecdotes, details, opinions, statistics, reasons and/or opinions
3. Organization – The order developed and sustained within and across
paragraphs using transitional devices and including introduction and
conclusion.
4. Style – The choice, use and arrangement of words and sentence
structures that create tone and voice.
5. Conventions – Grammar, mechanics, spelling, usage and sentence
formation.
TEACHER’S REMARKS:  QUIZ  RECITATION  PROJECT

GRADE:

5 - Excellently Performed
4 - Very Satisfactorily Performed
3 - Satisfactorily Performed
2 - Fairly Performed
1 - Poorly Performed

_______________________________
TEACHER

Date: ______________________

SUBJECT TEACHER: APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION:

st rd
MODULE 1 – 3
QUARTER 1
1 Meeting MS. ELENA MAE CORONEL MR. WILBERT A. MAÑUSCA
Subject Teacher School Director